Alice here! Not much to say today, but enjoy this new chapter! Please Review!
When Nina woke, the pressure in her head had finally subsided. She was under a few different blankets, though she didn't quite know how she initially got there. The last thing she remembered was that awful pain in her hands, and the ships that had been following them exploding into a million different pieces.
It happened again... Nina thought to herself. This hasn't happened for years...
The last time Nina has felt this way was after her very first day in the cantina. She remembered the touches of calloused hands against her torso, and the crude remarks the patrons made to her.
She had taken an order from someone at the bar, when a gravelly voice called at her from across the cantina, his words laced with explicit terms Nina had never heard before.
When the tingling in her fingers began, she was carrying a tray to a nearby table, the man watching her intently while she struggled to keep her cool. She didn't want another beating from Chalmun, that was for sure.
Why, if I could just give him a piece of my mind... Nina thought to herself as the tingling grew, until suddenly, there was a loud smash, and she looked back to find the rude man slumped against the table, blood pouring out of his nose while his buddies watched in a mix of confusion and horror.
That was six years ago. She had convinced herself that it wasn't her fault, but after today, she wasn't so sure.
Who is this client? And does it have something to do with this?
With careful concentration, she slowly rolled over, swinging her legs off the edge of the bunk and staring out into the mostly empty crew quarters. Mostly empty, of course, besides the small astromech staring at her creepily from the edge of her bed.
Nina gave a small squeak, backing up against the bed as the robot whistled and beeped at her. She ran a hand through her bangs once more, before staring back at the small droid, a smirk on her face. "Do you usually do this to passengers every morning?"
A short whistle followed by some beeps was the response.
"Great talk." She said sarcastically. "What's the plan for today?"
Jeight rolled backwards, beeping a few more times before heading for the door.
With a small sigh, Nina reached for one of the thin blankets, wrapping it around her thin frame and standing silently, while she heard the gentle footfalls of someone approaching outside her room. Barrett appeared in the doorway, his hair slightly wet from washing in the 'fresher and a thin green t-shirt replacing his long coat. He stifled a laugh at Nina before throwing a few pieces of fruit at her, Jeight beeping quietly behind him. "Nice hair."
Nina scowled, rolling her eyes before slipping the blanket on her shoulders over her head. "At least I don't have a beard that looks like a molting bantha."
A hand covered Barrett's heart in mockery. "How dare you!" He replied as Nina stood, pulling the blanket around her tighter.
"Oh, so sorry…" She said sarcastically, peeking out from her blanket cloak and taking a bite of her breakfast. "So, fearless captain, what shall we be doing today?"
"Well," Barrett replied, combing his fingers through his hair. "I'm supposed to get a transmission from the client today, as to where we're meant to drop you off."
Nina's face fell. She was to be given off to another owner soon enough, and these exciting adventures were soon to end as much as she wished it to not be true. "Barrett, who is this client?"
"Well, there's no harm in telling you," Barrett said, leaning against a wall by the door, "I was hired by the Rebel Alliance. I normally wouldn't take a job from the likes of them; puts a pretty big target on my back. But with the funds they were packing, I couldn't refuse. Empire'll get off my ass eventually."
"The Rebel Alliance?" Nina whispered, feeling both mystified and fearful, "You mean… all those rumors about Luke Skywalker fighting the Empire-"
"All true." Barrett replied, arms crossed. "They're putting up a good fight, but I don't see them winning the war."
"So, you side with the Empire..?" Nina asked hesitantly, letting the blanket slip from her head.
Barrett smirked. "Well, with their strict trade laws, they do provide me most of my income. Indirectly, of course. But I don't plan on submitting myself to being boarded by their customs officers. I'll resist arrest every time, even kill 'em if I have to," He moved to the other side of the room, taking off his shirt, revealing a toned upper torso. Sliding open a compartment in the wall, he sorted through a series of hanged clothing till he found a shirt he liked, a collared navy v-neck with long sleeves. "I'm not part of this conflict; I'm on no one's side."
"Can't you do that somewhere else..." Nina asked quietly, sliding the blanket back over her head and turning towards the wall, trying to tear her eyes and thoughts away from his body. She couldn't help but notice the scars; painful lines that covered parts of his torso.
"Oh, don't be so jittery," Barrett said, staring with some annoyance at the blanketed form facing the other side of the room, "it could be a lot worse. Right, Jeight?" A distant, worried peep crept into the room, which allowed a chuckle to escape the smuggler's lips.
"Still," she mumbled, rolling back to stare at the floor. "Don't you have your own place? Like your own bunk?"
"Yeah. You were in it." He slipped the shirt on over his head, tucking it in his pants, then throwing on a bulky vest and wrapping his gun belt around his waist.
"Oh..." She blushed, turning back to her pillow. "Well thank you."
"For what?" Barrett asked while donning a dark green flight jacket and checking himself in the mirror, muttering something about needing a shave.
"For letting me sleep here." She said, staring aimlessly ahead. "It was super comfy, you know, when I wasn't being stalked by a robot."
"He kept asking me whether or not he should zap you, kick you out so I could sleep. I told him to just stay and keep an eye on you instead," Barrett turned from analyzing his stubble back to the girl. "I guess he took it to heart. Anyway, we're far from any Imperial ships I know of. I locked the ship in orbit around Dantooine, a real backwater planet. Empire'd never come here."
"Sounds delightful." She drawled, standing and walking out of the room. "I'm gonna take a shower, to fix my hair, you know?"
"'Kay." Barrett took the opportunity to make his bunk, folding the extra blankets and placing them back in their storage unit, then fluffing the awful excuse for a pillow in an effort to make it look a little more comfortable. He eventually retreated to the back of the ship, accessing one of the stern storage units that acted as a makeshift armory. It wasn't much, just a weapon rack lined with some blasters, including the E-11 blaster rifle he had used during the escape from Mos Eisley. Barrett snorted, realizing how little time had passed since he met Nina. Other armaments included a dangerous DXR-6 disruptor rifle (which had not yet seen use), a few X-30 Lancer pistols, two BlasTech scatterguns, some Firelance and DLT-20A blaster rifles, and several concealable pistols used for holdout weapons. Barrett sat down and examined one of the Lancers, soon taking it apart to examine each part, then putting it back together and checking the sights. He loaded a mostly drained power pack into it and aimed at a target on the wall, opening fire. The gun emptied what was left in the cartridge with accuracy - it was in better condition than Barrett had originally thought. Shrugging, he slipped it into a holster on a spare gun belt and brought it to the cockpit, sitting down in his chair looking down on the green-yellow planet below.
The close to silent squeak of Nina's careful steps around the ship alerted his senses as he whipped around to find her holding a helmet, an item from his past. A past he wanted to forget. He held his breath and waited for the question he avoided most.
"W-What's this?" She asked with a shaky voice, trying to stop the trembling. "I-I found it in the place you said the clothes were, the lockers. I-I know the logo."
Barrett exhaled through his nose, shaking his head slightly with a frown on his face. "You looked through the wrong cabinet then," He said, rising from his chair slowly and quickly pulling the item from her hand. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you, but I guess there's no hiding anything from you." His fingers traced over the symbol painted on the forehead, clearly remembering his days as a soldier for the galaxy's most notorious criminal syndicate.
"The Black Sun." She replied quietly after a beat of silence, backing up from the man. "They're that gang. They kill for fun, Chalmun had said. Nasty, insane people."
A dry chuckle escaped Barrett's lips as his eyes grew solemn. "Calling the Black Sun a gang is like calling the Clone Wars a bar fight. The Black Sun is everywhere. Prince Xizor, a Falleen noble, calls all the shots. He's just as influential as the Emperor himself, if not more so. Infamous for smuggling and piracy, but… There's so much more to it than that. They're ruthless. Relentless. Their grip on the criminal underworld of the galaxy is tight, and no one messes with them and lives for long."
"And you work for them." Nina deadpanned, closing her eyes and taking another step back. "You work for them..."
"No," Barrett said firmly. His eyes were shut tight as he tried to burn the gruesome images of days gone by out of his mind. The corruption, the death, the inhumanity of it all. There was no escaping it, no chance to fix it. Only live with the hope he wouldn't let anything like that happen again. "I left them three years ago. That's why I'm here. They think I'm dead or rotting in some far-off prison. Maybe. Bottom line is that I don't work with them anymore. I… I don't."
Barrett sat back down, breathing heavier than usual while his mind raced through a thousand thoughts. Pangs of guilt, regret, and pain burst in his chest like rupturing organs as the ghosts of the past formed in his mind. His parents. Commander Wyzek. Prince Xisor. His friends Zare and Jahrod. The children. Resdon. His hand covered his eyes as he sighed, slouching forward in his chair and shaking his head.
A gentle hand reached out to his shoulder as he recounted the past faster than he wished it. He looked up through slightly teary eyes to find the gentle smile of Nina staring back at him, something he thought he didn't deserve. "It's okay, Barrett. It's in the past."
Her hands slowly took his, rubbing tiny circles over his calloused knuckles. They were soft, gentle hands he'd expect a child to have, but seemed to suit her well. She was small for her age, with acute features that seemed to fascinate him as he held on tighter to Nina. Barrett inhaled sharply, reluctantly pulling his hands from hers as his focus returned to the helmet, it's visor staring back at him mockingly. Scowling, he grasped it and stormed out of the cockpit, intent on finding the nearest garbage chute to discard this last piece of the past he could never bring himself to destroy. It was a fine helmet, similar in make to ones used by Imperial stormtroopers, but more effective, able to filter toxins as well as smoke. As useful as it was, the burning desire to destroy it trumped any reasonable argument for keeping it. He aggressively crammed it into the garbage chute, pressing a button to eject the assorted rubbish. Barrett then went to the stern gun and sat in the chair, watching his old helmet hurtle through space, further and further away. With a sigh, he went to the LoungePort and sat down while Nina descended the cockpit ladder in a forced silence.
"I'm sorry..." She said quietly, watching him from afar. "I shouldn't have gone in there."
"Call from Borgan should be in any minute," Barrett said, "then you'll be far from the Empire, slavers, criminals like me… You'll be safe."
"And how do you know I'll be safe?" Nina asked after a beat of silence, arms crossed. "How do you know the Rebels will protect me?"
"Honestly? I don't know how safe you'll be. But it'll be a helluva lot safer than you are right now, or were back on Tatooine. The Rebels have an army standing between their friends and the Empire. Right now, all you got is a washed-up smuggler and his astromech droid."
"Oh come on..." Nina rolled her eyes. "Washed up? You got us out of the Empire's grasp a few times. Pretty sure I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
"We've gotten lucky. But eventually that luck is gonna run out."
"It hasn't yet." Nina pointed out. "And that's not luck. It's skill."
"Look, kid," Barrett rose from the seat and approached the girl, her eyes searching higher for his, "I was hired by the Rebels to retrieve you and deliver you to them. And I intend to do that, because the last thing I need is the Empire and the Alliance hunting me down. So, you -"
A series of high pitched beeps flew through the ship like startled mynocks. Barrett's eyes moved to the cockpit, then back at Nina's, then to the cockpit again as he approached the ladder. The holocom. He clicked a button on the pilot's console and Lieutenant Borgan's smaller holographic form appeared, his clean cut hair, steely eyes, and groomed beard silently commanding the respect an officer deserved. He smiled slightly when he saw Barrett, but he did not speak. Barrett went first.
"Lieutenant."
"Good to see you, Captain. I assume the mission was a success?"
"More or less. Had to mix with the Imperials, but-"
"Yes, I know. The Empire has been scouring the Tatoo System looking for you and the girl, it seems," Borgan stated coldly. "I was hoping you'd take a more subtle approach, but that doesn't matter now. You have the girl?"
"Yes. Would you like to-"
"Speak with her? I think I'll wait till you deliver her to us. I'm sending you the coordinates to our convoy now. Dock with my ship, a CR90 called the Bright Horizon, and we shall receive you and your passenger."
"I'll set 'em now. See you around, Borgan."
"Captain Vance," The rebel said with a nod before his form disappeared from the console.
Barrett leaned back in his seat and inhaled deeply before releasing it in a quick, quiet sigh. Jeight's red and silver dome rotated to look at him. He returned the motion to the droid. "Punch in the coordinates." With a whistle, Jeight went to work. "We'll set off in an hour or so…"
After Barrett left to talk to the rebels, Nina sank into her chair, trying to hold back tears that threatened to fall.
She was to be sold off to the Rebel Alliance, without a second thought, just like every other moment in her pathetic life. Sold to be a slave when she was only seven years old by the orphanage she grew up in. Made into a barmaid at thirteen, where she was barely tall enough to see over the tables and counters in that smelly cantina. Stolen at seventeen, and taken aboard a crummy ship to meet her new owner.
All against her will.
Why would the Rebels even be remotely interested in me? Nina thought to herself. I can't fight, can't shoot a gun, can't even stay in a stressful situation for long before my fingers start tingling and I keel over in pain!
A tear slipped down her slightly infant-like cheeks.
Useless. I'm just useless.
Her hand went to rub a tear off her cheek angrily. She couldn't let Barrett see her like this, a stupid mess of tears, curled up in a ball in a less than comfortable chair.
Maybe he'll just leave me alone, The girl thought. Leave me alone, just like he will when we get to my new owners.
That sounded about right to Nina. The man only cared about himself, as far as she knew. And burying his skeletons in the closet as deep as they'll go. She scoffed to herself. To think she began to like him.
She wasn't the first one on this ship, and certainly not the last. She had to get that through her head, as much as her heart protested. She'd only be another passenger to him.
Those amber eyes haunted her of what could have been. A friendship? Maybe more?
She would never truly know.
Thanks for reading! Please review! Or else I might cry with Nina.